Italian movies triumphed at Canadian festivals: LE PREMIER HOMME by Gianni Amelio received at TIFF the FIPRESCI Prize for the section Special Presentations and TATANKA by Giuseppe Gagliardi won at Festival des Films du Monde de Montréal the Best Artistic Contribution in the World Competition.
Jury at Toronto included Diego Batlle, Argentina, president ("La Nación"), Carmen Gray, UK ("Sight and Sound"), Freddie Wong Kwok-Shiu, Hong Kong ("Apple Daily"), Sam Adams, US ("LA Times"), Pascal Grenier, Canada ("Journal Metro"), John Semley, Canada ("Torontoist.com"). They declared that "Gianni Amelio's realization of an unfinished Albert Camus novel explores the legacy of colonialism with the tenderness of a memoir and the unflinching gaze of a war reporter."
In Montreal, the Jury was composed by: President, Vicente Aranda, director (Spain), Katharina Marie Schubert, actress (Germany), Laurent Heynemann, director (France), Li Quinkuan, director (China), Dino Gentili, script-writer and director (Italy), Bernard Seguin-Poirier, painter and sculptor (Canada), Carmen Gagnon, representing the general public (Canada).